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By Maria Zabala Peña at: englishforeso@yahoo.esor mariazabalapena@gmail.com.
For ESL without photocopies go to my other blog HERE
English for Communications. Click HERE. By Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and myself, María Zabala Peña.
English for Office Applications (Computers). Click. HERE. By Beatriz Papaseit Fernández and myself, María Zabala Peña.
Aim: students understand the importance of pitch, tone and inflection when answering phone calls. Procedure:
Students read the questions in the handout
Students answer the questions while/after watching the video Materials:
Lady in Red video on pitch, tone and inflection (available on youtube or download from link below)
Original video source: E-how: http://www.ehow.com/video_4401591_taking-good-phone-messages.html On Youtube; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00m1mQFF5zo
Aim and procedure: students listen to the famous lady in red as she advices on how to take a message.
I have posted the question under the video.
You can download both the video and a photocopiable worksheet with questions by clicling HERE
Questions:
1. If you answer the telephone for another person or you have to take a message, what information do you have to get?
2. The information you get must be ……………………..
3. How do you ensure that you get the information correctly?
4. According to the lady in red, what else is very important when taking messages?
5. What is the sentence you can use to finish the conversation when taking a message? Video Transcript
Alright, now let's talk about taking messages. And your whole job might be about taking messages, or you might just simply answer the phone for another person, and you'll need to take a message for them. It is absolutely crucial that you get a certain amount of information from the person on the other end of the phone. And the information must be accurate. You need to have their name, the business that they're calling from, if that's applicable, the telephone number, and a brief message. Now, I said it is crucial that this information be accurate. Well, how do you make sure it's accurate? You repeat it. "Okay, this is John Smith from XYZ Corporation, and your phone number is 872-939-4086, and you want to talk to Bob about the planning meeting on Friday. Okay, great. I'll make sure that he gets the message." And then, you have to make sure that that person gets the message. It's very, very important that business messages not get dropped through the cracks. So take accurate information and pass the message on, immediately, not three days later, but immediately after you record the message.
Aim: Students analyse and compare different convention programmes in order to identify the different items that need to be taken into consideration when planning a convention.
Procedure: distribute different convention programmes to the students.
Where can you find convention programmes?
ITB- Travel Trade Show Programme
You don't need to have attended a convention to obtain a programme. Internet is full of them. I have selected several programmes, which you can download by clicking HERE.
If possible, you should print them in colour as the colour code helps to understand the structure of the convention.
Urban Future World Forum Programme
If you need more programmes or prefer to select your own, I suggest you write the sentence below in a browser (google or other):
convention OR forum OR session, program OR programme
Level: Lower intermediate to high (Script is provided)
A)Download, listen and watch the short vido on table manners by Norine Dresser.
B) You can download thetranscript of Ms. Dresser in word (+ vocabulary) and the video from this link HERE
C) Answer the questions
Questions for the Talk
1. What table manners in your country/region might be surprising for an outsider?
2. Out of the table manners Ms. Dresser mentions, which ones are the most surprising? Explain why.
3. Have you ever faced or witnessed misunderstandings due to cross-cultural differences, whether related to table manner or other cultural dissimilarities?
4. Do you know of any film, book or piece of news that deal with cultural differences? How do they portray those differences?
5. What would have been your reaction in front of any of the cultural differences that Ms. Dresser mentions?
This is a was originaly VIDEOJUG Video. You can download the video HERE
There are big differences between cultures. Whether they eat with their hands, always with the right hand, no matter where, whether they eat with chopsticks, whether they eat with just a spoon. Utensils, the foods that they eat, the foods that are taboo. You of course know about shellfish and pork for Jews, alcohol for Muslims.
How does offering food to guests differ among cultures?
Offering food is something Americans say, "Would you like some ice cream?" We'll say, "Oh, no thank you. Not right now." And I'll ask you one more time, "Would you like some ice cream?" And you'll say, "No, thank you" and I've got the message you don't want any ice cream. But, I learned from a friend of mine who was actually an instructor of mine from Indonesia at UCLA. And he said, when he first came to the US, he was so hungry all the time, people would invite him for dinner. And they'd say, "Would you join us for dinner?" And he'd say, "No, thank you." And they'd say, "Oh, come on, have something to eat with us." And he'd say, "No, thank you." And so they would stop asking, thinking they didn't want to push food on him; maybe he didn't like American food. And so, he was really hungry. And he learned to overcome his rule: at home, people have to ask you three times, offer you food three times before you can accept it. And that applies not only in Indonesia but in other parts of the world as well. So how do you know? I could never stand my mother-in-law; she was born in the old world, and my husband didn't like it either. As soon as we sat down, she would start bringing out all the food. Well, if you bring it out, then that solves that, so don't ask, just serve it and they'll take it. "Oh no, not right now." So then, ask three times.
Why is noisy eating acceptable in other cultures?
In China and Japan slurp your noodles. That's a sign of respect. Smack you lips, I don't know what that means. I don't know exactly. But that also means that the dinner is very good. Belching or burping, in some places bad manners, in other places it was a delicious meal and you feel very satisfied. Generally speaking, we don't talk with food in our mouths. There's this stereotype of the Japanese holding, you know, laughing behind the hand and that's partly because you don't want to show your teeth and your mouth. So that's why they laugh behind here, it won't show your teeth. You don't want to do that while your chewing either but you can slurp your noodles, that's a very good sign.
Students watch a video that shows the patronizing attitude of a Hotel Manager towards clients and employees. You can donwload the video and the task HERE. I have obtained the video from youtube.
Level: Low intermediate and higher. Some of the questions can be answered by observing the body language of the actors, others require an intermediate understanding of oral English. Materials:
Student's Handout. To download it, see link above
Student Handout
Teacher Handout (same as student's but contains answers)
4 minute long video
The video and the handouts can be downloaded from this site: HERE.
You can also view the video online, underneath
I downloaded this video from Youtube and now I cannot find the source. If anybody knows, can you send me at e-mail at englishforeso@yahoo.es? Thanks
